The abstract must describe completed work in detail (e.g. scope, purpose, methods, results).

Write in the past tense, you are describing work that is completed.

Abstracts stating, "results will be discussed" are not acceptable. Standard abstract content includes results.

An abstract is not meant to be an advertisement, notification, pulp, or lure with cliffhangers.

Style & Writing Guidelines

Other Guidelines

Title and text must be in English, and in formal writing style.

Have colleagues read your abstract; if it is not clear to them it will not be clear to a wider audience.

Use spelling and grammar check.

Italicize genus and species designations throughout your title and text.

Font style and size formatting is not important. All abstracts will be standardized to the same font style and size for publication in the Annual Meeting Abstract Booklet.

The abstract can be divided into sections:

What is the problem you are trying to solve, what is the project?

Why is it important?

Clearly explain the project, or the question you are attempting to answer.

Describe the experiments, methods and materials that you used to solve the problem or complete the project.

Describe the results of your work, and then present your conclusions.

What is the impact of this work?

The abstract should contain as much information as possible. As in science, others should be able to reproduce your results, they can't do this without enough detail. Unless you publish elsewhere (and you should), the published abstract is all that may be available about your work.

Be specific about products and methods.

You can say that the specimen was molded, or you can say that the specimen was molded with a layered mold using Silicones, Inc., GI 1000, backed by a mother mold of FGR-95 and fiberglass. This is not just important in terms of the abstract but as a written record of what has happened to particular specimens.

You can mention products in your abstract and in the presentation, but the AMMP meeting is not a forum for a sales pitch of your product. Be accurate as to how a product was used. For example: Paraloid B-72 at 50/50 w/w in acetone was used as an adhesive.

Some suggested topics for presentations

New techniques

New materials

Testing of materials and techniques

Basics of… or, Historical review of…

Case studies - following a specimen through the complete process of preparation, explaining which decisions were made and why.

Annual Meeting Host Committee

Greg Brown (gwbrownx@inebraska.com), Shane Tucker (stucker3@unl.edu),

Carrie Herbel (carrie.herbel@unl.edu) | University of Nebraska State Museum